Separate SGPC
Makkar warns Congress
Karnal, February 22
President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Avtar Singh Makkar today lashed out at the Congress and the Haryana government for playing vote-bank politics on the issue of separate managing body for Haryana gurdwaras and warned that such overtures were fraught with dangerous consequences.

Forest projects dry up, waste funds
Panchkula, February 22
Low survival rates of saplings planted under the Haryana Community Forestry Project has resulted in a wasteful expenditure of about Rs 3 crore. This has further resulted in the objectives of the project to build up the capacity of rural communities and to improve the natural environment not being fully achieved.

Bansi Lal’s HouseMahendra denies breaking locks
Chandigarh, February 22
Ranbir Singh Mahendra, son of a former Chief Minister, the late Bansi Lal, has described reports published in a section of the Press today that he along with members of his family broke open the locks of the house of his father as “totally false, fabricated and baseless.”

A devotee offers water on an idol of Lord Shiva on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway near Ambala on the eve of Shivratri on Sunday. Tribune photo: Kamal Sachar

16 IAS officers shifted
Chandigarh, February 22
The Haryana government has transferred 16 IAS officers, including two Financial Commissioners and Principal Secretaries and five DCs.

SHO accused of rape suspended
Rewari, February 22
The SHO of Mahendergarh district, Sadhu Ram, who had allegedly raped a teenaged girl (16) in the police station on February 13, has been suspended by SP Narnaul Jagwant Singh Lamba.

Grain market assn goes on strike
Gurgaon, February 22
At least 1,500 members of the Gurgaon Grain Market Association went on an indefinite strike here today. They were protesting against the government for not providing them a proper space to sit. Ten persons of the association sat on hunger
strike. Mukesh Dagar, general secretary of the association, said:
“Reliance Fresh Retailers has joined the protest and 6 Ten will join us
soon.”

Pay Scales
College teachers to join protest
Karnal, February 22
The Haryana Government College Teachers Association (HGCTA) has expressed concern over the delay in the release of the revised UGC pay scales for university and college teachers and decided to join the call given by HFUCTO to stage a dharna in New Delhi on February 23 to register their protest.

BSP gen secy joins HJC
Sonepat, February 22
State general secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Suman Singh Sharma today left the BSP and joined the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). He made this announcement while addressing a press conference organised by the HJC here.

Hisar, February 22
Former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today alleged that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was misleading the people of Haryana by making populist announcements and offering sops.

Addressing a “vijay sankalp rally” here, organised jointly by the Indian National Lok Dal and the Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said no budgetary provisions had been made for the hike in pension for various categories of citizens, including senior citizens. The Chief Minister had also failed to satisfactorily explain the sources from which he would be arranging finances for these fiscal measures, he said, adding that since the Congress was beginning to see the writing on the wall, Hooda was trying desperately to hoodwink the masses.

The former Chief Minister said Hooda was boasting about development of Haryana but everybody could see that instead of becoming the “number 1” state in the country, Haryana was inching towards backwardness.

He said the Congress government had virtually looted the state’s farmers in the name of establishing special economic zones (SEZs) and had actually given land to industrial houses at throwaway rates. The people of Haryana, he said, would never excuse the Congress for the betrayal.

Chautala criticised Hooda for squandering public money to the tune of several crores to eulogise his father, the late Ranbir Singh Hooda, who died recently.

He also accused Hooda of favouring the youth of particular areas in recruitment to government jobs.

Former Finance Minister and senior INLD leader Sampat Singh said Hooda’s announcement of sops with heavy financial implications minutes before the Budget was to be presented was inappropriate and undermined the role of the legislature.

Haryana BJP chief AP Manchanda said the law and order situation in the state left much to be desired. He even went to the extent of saying there was in fact no government worth the name in Haryana under the Congress. Inflation and shortage of LPG had made life miserable for the people.

INLD chief Ashok Arora and former Kurukshetra MP Kailasho Saini were among those who spoke.

Karnal, February 22
President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Avtar Singh Makkar today lashed out at the Congress and the Haryana government for playing vote-bank politics on the issue of separate managing body for Haryana gurdwaras and warned that such overtures were fraught with dangerous consequences.

Dubbing the Chatha Committee report on separate gurdwara committee as political stunt, Makkar said the timing of submission of the report spoke volumes about the “suspected secular credentials” of the Congress.

Dismissing the demand for a separate SGPC, he cautioned that the government would be fully responsible for the consequences if it initiated any action on the basis of the Chatha Committee report.

When asked why the SGPC was opposing a separate SGPC for Haryana when such bodies already existed in Patna and Delhi, Makkar said the Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Act of 1925 covered only the erstwhile Punjab and Haryana was a part of undivided Punjab.

Claiming that Haryana Sikhs were not backing the demand for separate SGPC, Makkar said jathas of Sikhs from the state would perform organise community kitchens at Golden Temple from March 14 to April 2.

Meanwhile, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee would implement e-governance to ensure complete transparency in its functioning and make all information available online, Makkar said today.

Panchkula, February 22
Low survival rates of saplings planted under the Haryana Community Forestry Project has resulted in a wasteful expenditure of about Rs 3 crore. This has further resulted in the objectives of the project to build up the capacity of rural communities and to improve the natural environment not being fully achieved.

Survival of plants under farm forestry, kitchen garden and poplar plantations was just 17.53, 13.98 and 33.69 per cent, respectively, against the norm of 70 per cent. Though the physical targets under some of the plantation components were more or less achieved, audit scrutiny revealed that the survival rate was very low and in some cases zero.

For example, detailed analysis of records relating to 7,784 farmers of Ambala and Hisar divisions revealed that the survival rate of plants was zero per cent for 2,048 farmers over a two-year period, for which over Rs 5 lakh had been spent. In Bhiwani division, out of 7.26 lakh plants, involving an expenditure of Rs 12.39 lakh, only 0.64 lakh survived, registering a survival rate of just 9 per cent.

Further, there were cases of expenditure in violation of project guidelines on construction of coffer dams, plantation after expiry of the project and so on.

Audit revealed that funds were spent on plantation in areas that did not fulfil the selection criteria. Expenditure incurred on this count as Rs 1.10 crore.

As far as kitchen gardens are concerned, the objective was to create awareness on tree planting and other benefits to individual households and also to improve living and nutritional standards of villagers. The approach was to provide five plants of grafted fruits per homestead. Out of the 4.78 lakh plants distributed in a year, only 0.67 lakh survived, indicating the failure of the scheme.

A report on the Monitoring and Evaluation Division stated that the low survival rate was due to lack of proper space in the backyard, lack of care by the householders, delay in supply of plants and supply of damaged or dried plants by the department concerned.

The Comptroller and Auditor General has observed that while the capabilities of the village resources management committees were evaluated to be satisfactory, these remained largely unutilised and the plantations made on panchayat land were not handed over to them.

Further, there was no significant achievement in either attending to the environmental problems through the project or promoting energy efficient cooking devices among the rural populace, which continued to rely on fuel wood and cow dung as source of energy.

Chandigarh, February 22
Ranbir Singh Mahendra, son of a former Chief Minister, the late Bansi Lal, has described reports published in a section of the Press today that he along with members of his family broke open the locks of the house of his father as “totally false, fabricated and baseless.”

In a statement issued here today, former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Mahendra, who is also the MLA from Mundhal Khurd, said it was wrong to say that he and his family members ousted some persons from the house of his father. He said no lock was broken either by him or his family members or supporters and no one was manhandled.

He said the rasam pagri of his mother Vidya Devi was held on February 20 and on the very next day, he and his family members had gone to clean the rooms of his mother and his father and sprinkle Ganga jal as per Hindu traditions and also to look after the cattle. He said they had been doing this on a regular basis and would continue to do so.

Mahendra said when they reached the house, Rajbir Singh, PSO to Kiran Choudhry, Haryana Minister of State for Tourism and Forests and widow of his younger brother Surendra Singh, and a few other outsiders tried to prevent them from entering their own house.

In the meanwhile, he said, the police reached there and then the family members opened the rooms with the keys that were with his sister Savita and his wife Nirmal Kanta and got the rooms cleaned and got Ganga jal sprinkled and left the house.

He said it was unfortunate that “some sycophants and other unruly elements with vested interests” were able to give such a slanderous and malicious tinge to a simple act like house cleaning and it was even more unfortunate that some members of the media published their statements without verifying the truth and the antecedents of the people making the statements.

Anil Kumar, MD, CONFED, has been posted as MD, Sugarfed, Panchkula, vice JP Kaushik, who goes as Director and Special Secretary, Agriculture, in place of
Mohammed Shayin, who will be the new DC of Mahendragarh, vice Pankaj Yadav, who has been made Director and Joint Secretary, Primary Education, relieving PK Dass of the said charge.

Balbir Singh Malik, DC, Karnal has been made Administrator, HUDA, Hisar, vice Ashima Garg, who has proceeded on leave. RS Doon, Joint Secretary, Boundary Area Committee, and DC, Rohtak, has been posted as MD, Confed. MS Sehrawat, Chief Administrator and Joint Secretary, Housing Board and Additional Director, Urban Estate, has been made DC, Mewat at Nuh, vice Rajeev Ranjan, who has posted as Joint Secretary, General Administration Department, against a vacant post.

Rewari, February 22
The SHO of Mahendergarh district, Sadhu Ram, who had allegedly raped a teenaged girl (16) in the police station on February 13, has been suspended by SP Narnaul Jagwant Singh Lamba.

Simultaneously, DSP (Headquarters) Ram Rattan has been deputed to conduct an inquiry into the matter. The action was taken against the SHO after the victim’s accusatory account was flashed on a news channel.

Meanwhile, activists of the Mahila Sanskriti Sangathan and the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) led by a prominent member of SUCI comrade Rajender Singh yesterday held a demonstration in Narnaul condemning the alleged crime committed by the SHO.

They demanded a judicial probe into the case, immediate arrest of the SHO, registration of a case of rape, criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement against the SHO and protection for the victim’s family. Later, they also submitted a memorandum to the SDM, which was addressed to the Chief Minister.

On February 9, Narain Singh’s daughter was allegedly kidnapped by two youths, who earlier had an altercation with Narain Singh.

Narain Singh, a native of Orissa, sells tea near the court complex in Mahendergarh. He migrated to Mahendergarh in 1980 and had been living in a rented accommodation since then.

After being reportedly abandoned by her alleged abductors, Narain’s daughter returned to Mahendergarh on February 13 by train. She was picked up by the Mahendergarh police and then taken to the police station where she was allegedly raped by the SHO.

On February 14, the police produced her in Judicial Magistrate’s court, where her statement was recorded in a closed room.

Subsequently, the police also registered a case of abduction causing hurt and criminal intimidation against the alleged abductors.

Gurgaon, February 22
Craggy police personnel going to prevent a child marriage or dealing with sensitive issues like domestic violence and marital disputes will now be a thing of the past in Haryana.

In a novel move aimed at tackling cases of domestic violence and child marriage in the state, the Haryana government has decided to establish special cells for women and children in all districts. Now, instead of policemen, newly appointed women officials having sound academic credentials in psychology or sociology would handle such cases.

“The Department of Women and Child Development has recently appointed Protection-cum-Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (PPOs) for every district in the state," said newly appointed Gurgaon Police Commissioner SS Deswal while talking to The Tribune here today.

Each PPO would be assisted by two, preferably graduate, police officials and members of associated NGOs, he said and added that the existing cells dealing with crime against women were being merged with the special cells.

In a recent communiqué sent to all district superintendents of police in the state, all deputy commissioners of police at Gurgaon and the Superintendent of Police (Railways), Ambala Cantt, the Haryana Director-General of Police said the special cells would be set up within their offices.

“The PPOs have been appointed at each special cell under Section 8 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and Section 16 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006,” the communiqué states, adding that the PPO would be an officer of the court and would act as a bridge between women/children and justice.

The special cells would offer immediate services in cases of family violence and atrocities against women by working with magistrates/police in registering complaints under the PWDV Act and in any other matter, besides providing counselling, legal aid, referral to family service agencies and any other assistance as and when required.

Gurgaon, February 22
At least 1,500 members of the Gurgaon Grain Market Association went on an indefinite strike here today. They were protesting against the government for not providing them a proper space to sit. Ten persons of the association sat on hunger
strike.

Mukesh Dagar, general secretary of the association, said: “Reliance Fresh Retailers has joined the protest and 6 Ten will join us soon.”

Most of the members of the association had purchased shops in the new grain market in an open auction at exorbitant rates and had been paying fees to the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board
(HSAMB). However, now they have been asked to vacate it.

President of the market association Krishan Pal Yadav said many of the applicants had been working since the establishment of the new grain market on the Khandsa road and a majority of the applicants had no source of income other than what they earn by working as commission agents.

The market was established around 33 years ago when the old grain market from sabzi mandi of the city was shifted to the Khandsa road.

“A majority of the applicants have already suffered huge downfall in their business due to the shifting of the grain market from the busiest place to a lonely place here,” he said.

“If the government wants us to vacate the space they should provide us with a proper market and shift the existing grain market to some nearby place with full infrastructure and amenities,” Yadav retreated and claimed that the HSAMB had asked them to vacate the place, as they wanted to build a mall here.

Karnal, February 22
The Haryana Government College Teachers Association (HGCTA) has expressed concern over the delay in the release of the revised UGC pay scales for university and college teachers and decided to join the call given by HFUCTO to stage a dharna in New Delhi on February 23 to register their protest.

The HGCTA has also resented the new format for promotion of college teachers which required every teacher to earn 300 points for the next promotion and pointed out that this rider was “uncalled for and irrational”.

RS Kundu, president of the association, rued that teaching, which was the primary duty in a college, had been allotted less weight in points than extracurricular activities and demanded that the evaluation of teachers should not be done on these counts without creating adequate facilities in the colleges.

He also demanded the restoration of tutorials and seminars at the postgraduate level in colleges and universities to enable the teachers to earn points required under the new scales and said the condition of PhD for the scale of Associate Professor should be waived till a provision for study leave for PhD was made in the colleges.

The Union HRD Ministry had already notified the revised UGC scales on December 31, 2008.

Addressing a rally in Matheri Sekhan village near Ambala city today, he said the state government had lost its credibility among people and failed to fulfil the promises made during the last assembly elections.

He said eyeing Lok Sabha elections, a number of attractive announcements were being made to attract voters. He said during the last assembly elections, people of the state had cast their vote in favour of the Congress to make Bhajan Lal the chief minister but Sonia Gandhi handed over the chair to Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He said the announcement of giving Rs 700 as old-age pension to the elderly persons, who had already been getting pension far the past 10 years, would benefit only a few persons. He said if his party was voted to power in the state he would offer the old-age pension facility to persons of 58 years of age instead of 60.

Sonepat, February 22
State general secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Suman Singh Sharma today left the BSP and joined the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). He made this announcement while addressing a press conference organised by the HJC here.

Sharma, who was also appointed in charge of the party affairs for the Sonepat parliamentary constituency, said when he joined the BSP, he was promised the party ticket from the Sonepat Lok Sabha.

“The BSP graph is coming down day by day in Haryana and HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi has emerged as strong leader,” he said, adding that he would organise a rally at Sonepat, which would be addressed by Bishnoi.

Chandigarh, February 22
A draw of lots for identifying liquor vends to be reserved will be held in each district of the state on February 26 at 11 am.

Stating this here today, a spokesman for the Excise and Taxation Department said the draw would be conducted by a committee headed by the DC of the district concerned in the presence of the public. The Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Excise) and the District Social Welfare Officer of the district concerned would be its members.

In the excise policy for the next financial year, the state government has reserved 10 per cent of the retail vends of country liquor and IMFL for members of the Scheduled Castes and 5 per cent for members of the Backward Classes (A) to facilitate partnership of these communities in business opportunities. Of the total 2,265 country liquor vends, 227 vends would be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 113 vends for the people of the Backward Classes (A). Similarly, of the 1,227 IMFL vends, 123 vends would be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 61 vends for the Backward Classes (A).